Wicked Endings the First: The Shattered Windowpane
by Baudelairette
Summary: Told from Isadora Quagmire's and Klaus Baudelaire's points of view. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

(One)

"Isa-DORA!"

"I'm coming! Could you wait, like, TWO seconds please?" I yelled back down the stairs of the Baudelaire/Quagmire penthouse apartment. We had bought it when Violet Baudelaire had come of age. So I was in my bedroom, putting on my last thing- a small ring, nothing fancy, just a silver band that Klaus Baudelaire had bought for me as a token of our friendship. I had gotten him one just like it. We're best friends. Klaus was yelling up the stairs at me. I quickly slipped it on my left ringfinger.

"Come on Isadora! I can't wait all day!"

"Here I am! Happy?" I said, walking down the stairs.

"Well, you said you'd be here five minutes ago," Klaus said, handing me my purse.

"Hey, timekeeper, you said five-twenty. It's five-fifteen," I said, not bothering to mention that his watch was ten minutes fast. "C'mon, then, if you're so eager, let's get going!" I said, taking his hand and running out the door. I whistled and caught a taxicab.

"Fourteenth and Broadway, please, sir," Klaus said, handing the driver some cash.

"Ahhhh, if it isn't Klaus and Isadora, the famous actors, again, huh?" said the driver.

"Yeah. It's Thursday," I said. "Time for our weekly trip to the other side of town. Thanks, Joe."

"Don't mention it. Happy to drive you two."

Joe drives us to Broadway every week. Klaus and I are sixteen now, and we are professional actors in a Broadway show, _The Diary of Anne Frank_. I'm playing Anne, and Klaus is playing Peter. We're the stars! That night was our first performance. We needed to be there by a certain time to get into costume and go back over our lines. Of course, acting brings back some bad memories-

Memories of Count Olaf, the most terrible actor in the entire universe.

He had tortured Klaus when he had been his guardian, and then he had pursued the Baudelaires for as long as I could remember. He had then proceeded to kidnap me and one of my brothers, Duncan, and torture _us_ until we escaped in a floating house with a man named Hector. We had then returned, found the Baudelaires and my other brother Quigley, and foiled Olaf for the last time. He's serving a long sentence in jail now.

"Hey, Isadora, we're here," Klaus said, offering his hand to help me out of the car.

"Oh, thanks," I said, taking it and getting out. "Thanks again, Joe."

"No problem, Isadora. Have fun." Joe drove away.

Klaus and I walked in and showed our IDs to the guard. He let us backstage and we found Miss Littleton, the director.

"Ahhhh, here are my stars!" she said, taking us back to the dressing rooms. "Go get changed!"

Klaus and I have dressing rooms right next to each other, so of course we talked through the wall.

"Sooooo... you excited?" Klaus asked me, drawing out the "so" as if he were really thinking.

"Yeah. But what are you thinking about, Klaus?" I asked.

"I'm thinking... tonight's the night of the big performance. That means..." I heard a gulp. "That means I have to... _kiss_ you."

"Oh yeah. I totally forgot that too, Klaus! Don't feel bad for forgetting something!" I said.

"Yeah... but it's not that. It's what I forgot."

"Oh. I get your point. Me too, don't worry." I heard his door start to open, so I started to open mine and we both leaned our heads out.

"Klaus... I'm sure you won't blow it. Okay?" I said, giving him my "comforting" look.

"I'm gonna blow it. You know I am," he said.

"No, you're not. Trust me."

"Will you tell me if I do?"

"Okay, yes. I will," I said.

"You have to promise me!" he said, coming out. He had his trousers on, but not his shirt. I looked him up and down and realized for about the fiftieth time just how good-looking he was getting. He had long since traded his glasses for contacts, messed up his hair, and gotten better clothes. He no longer looks like a helpless orphan, that's for sure.

"Isadora?" he said.

I finally looked up at his face and said, "If you'd put your shirt on, maybe I could make some sense out of what you're saying."

"Oh! Sorry!" he said, putting his shirt on hastily. "There. Now _swear_."

"I swear, Klaus. I'll tell you everything. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Let's go to makeup, you guys!" said Miss Littleton. "It's your night! Make it last!"

"Don't worry, Klaus. It'll be great."

"Let's hope so."


	2. Chapter 2

(Two)

We looked out on to the stage. It's extremely large, but also so comforting... you really start to call it home after a while. Klaus grabbed my shoulders and spun me toward him.

"Isadora, don't tell me I was good if I wasn't."

"Klaus! If you'd stop doubting yourself, maybe you'd be _really_ good." I took both his hands in an attempt to comfort him. "Now what does Violet always say?"

"There's always something," Klaus said, smiling. (I looked at his smile and realized how cute that was too... was I starting to like him?) "There's always something," he repeated, a little softer this time, and looked back at the stage, his eyes shining. I looked at his eyes too.

Yeah, I liked him.

"Opens in five!" shouted Miss Littleton.

"Oh! We'd better get onstage," I said, pulling him to the other side of the stage and taking my place next to two other girls who were playing Anne's best friends. I breathed in, the curtains opened, and the show began.

We made it through to the first scene where Anne meets Peter very seamlessly. Then our first scene came, and we got started.

I bumped into Klaus. "Hey, whatch where you're- oh, hello," I said, looking up at him.

"Hello," he said. "I'm Peter van Daan. What's your name?"

"Anne."

"Anne... what?"

"Frank. Anne Frank," I said. "Pleasure to meet you, Peter."

We talked it up for a while, and then were on our merry ways. Then the call came, and the annexe scenes began. We all helped change the set quickly, and then went about our acting.

And before we knew it- the fated kissing scene arrived.

"Anne..."

"Peter..."

And then he did it. He kissed me. And suddenly Broadway slipped away... and reality set in. It seemed almost unreal, that it was acting. It felt like he meant it. When we pulled away, we looked at each other for longer than we were supposed to. Soon I found my lines, and we went on with the show.

Soon the show was over, and we went back to our dressing rooms to change back into our clothes. I was pulling on my jeans (my favorite ones with the holes in the knees and the chain belt) and Klaus talked through the wall.

"Soooo... how'd I do?" he asked, sounding thoughtful again.

"Klaus, what did I tell you about self-doubt? You did great," I said, putting on my shirt that was emblazoned with an image of one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets. I stepped out of my room and leaned on the doorpost. "I swore I'd tell you if you didn't, and you know I wouldn't break a promise like that, especially to my best friend."

"Really? You rock, Isadora," he said, coming out of his dressing room, once again shirtless, and gave me a light kiss on the cheek. He went back in to finish dressing.

I stood there for quite a few moments, a bit shocked and a little satisfied, but all in love. A smile slowly spread over my face. I touched the place where Klaus had kissed me, exactly in the middle of my left cheek. He was definitley a sweet guy, I had always known it, but now, I felt it more.

I went back into my dressing room to finish gathering my things for the night, and suddenly, I heard a crash from the room next to mine.

"Klaus?"

"Isadora!"

"Klaus, what's happened?" I said, going into his room and seeing nothing but shattered glass all about the floor. In the midst of it, I saw a rock. And to the side of it was Klaus, crumpled on the floor with a crude bleeding gash in his arm.

"Klaus! Oh my goodness, somebody call 911! Quickly!" I said, knowing that we had no proper doctoring on the set. I fell to the floor beside him, taking him into my arms.

"Klaus, hold on, don't leave me. You're going to be alright. Please don't slip away... not now... not when I need you... please..."


	3. Chapter 3

(Three)

"Wh... what happened?" I asked, opening my eyes. I was laying on a hospital bed, under a sign that read, "Intensive Care".

"Oh Klaus!" said a familiar voice. I looked around to find myself wrapped in the arms of Isadora Quagmire, who looked more worry-stricken than I had ever seen her. Her face was pale, which made her dark, wide eyes stick out more than usual. I hated seeing her this worried, so I asked again.

"What happened?"

"Well, all I remember was a crash from your room, finding the window broken, a rock on the floor, and you all in a heap with the upper part of your arm bleeding," she said, rolling up my sleeve to give me a good look at a bunch of thick stitches in my arm.

"Oh." I sighed, rolling my sleeve back down. "Where's the rest of 'em?" I asked, referring to my sisters and her brothers.

"Are you sure you want to see right now?" she asked, looking me in the eyes. I got a better look at her. Her face was tear-stained and splattered with blood.

"Whose blood is that?" I asked, looking at the long line that streaked her right cheek.

"Yours. It was very bad, Klaus. You were unconcious," she said, looking at me with a sad expression. "I never want to see you brush with death again."

"Well. Let's not worry about that now. Can I get out of bed?"

"Yes."

"Show me my sisters, please," I said, standing up. It was a bit difficult at first, considering the blood loss, but I regained my footing.

"Okay, but you are _not_ gonna like it," said Isadora, giving me her hand to hold for support. "It's not pretty."

"Isadora, why am I closing my eyes?"

"You're not gonna like where I'm leading you, that's why."

I heard a door open, and she led me into a room that felt unusually cold. I heard what seemed like four drawers open, and a few zippers zip. I already didn't like what I was hearing, and had a strong premonition that we were in-

"The mourge," I said under my breath, with a shiver.

"What?" Isadora asked, putting her hand on my shoulder and giving it a good squeeze, obviously to brace me.

"We're in the mourge, aren't we?" I said, opening my eyes to the pale bodies of an eighteen-year-old girl, a three-year-old girl, and two sixteen-year-old boys. They were scratched and streaked with dirt, and all their eyes were shocked, open. I reached out and touched the body of Sunny Baudelaire, my younger sister, to find her freezing cold- only the kind of cold that death could bring. Violet was the same cold. I looked over and saw Isadora weeping over her dead brothers, and immediately I felt for her something I had never felt before, not even for Fiona Widdershins, who had joined Count Olaf last I saw her. She had given me a small kiss, right on the mouth, but it had been nothing compared to what Isadora and I had just shared on the stage. It didn't really feel like Fiona cared, like it was just a sad goodbye. But even when we were acting, I had felt something from Isadora- something meaningful, sensual even, and I wondered if she would ever mean it as Klaus and Isadora, not Peter and Anne.

"I'm so sorry, Klaus," Isadora said, coming over to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. I put my arms in the most natural place possible, around her middle. I wanted to stay that way for a very long time, because it was the most comforted I had ever felt since my parents had passed away. Now it seemed as if there were nothing more I wanted to do than kiss her again, but I thought it might take her by surprise, and she might not even have feelings for me.

"Isadora... why did this happen? Did anything happen to you?" I asked, loosening up a little and looking her in the eyes.

"No, nothing happened to me, but you know... I think he tried to kill us all."

"Who?"

"Well, their attacker, naturally," she said, looking once again at her dead brothers. "I just assume it was a he is all."

"Well, you don't suppose..."

"Mmmm?" she said, looking at me in a funny way I could almost swear was loving. She was looking at my six-pack. I crossed my arms low, thinking maybe she did like me.

Suddenly, she realised.

"Count Olaf!" we both shouted. Suddenly we caught each other's eyes and blushed. She bit her lip and looked down, as did I. I was starting to think she _was_ in love with me... but first I had to think of a way to pose the question, so we just stood there for a few moments, until she came over and wrapped her arms around me, weeping.

"There now... there now..." I said.


	4. Chapter 4

(Four)

I couldn't believe that they were all dead. It was hard to think about, and Isadora was still devastated to the point of breaking down. It was horrible, and I didn't know exactly what to do. But I did remember Isadora's favorite New York luxury-

Starbucks.

"Hey Isadora, you look like you need a latte. Whaddya say?" I said, as we were walking back to the apartment that I had newly inherited. "I could go for one too."

"Thanks, Klaus. You're so good to me," she said, giving me a small kiss on the cheek. It was a bit like I had done earlier, and I felt like she did like me back. It made me smile, beam really, even in a time like this. She smiled a little too, and I felt like I was bridging a huge gap without uttering a word. She was beauty in its own, her hair streaming behind her like a midnight shadow, and her lovely dark eyes gazing at the moon, as if it were a foreign object, purely fascinating in its simplicity. I wondered how she got so gorgeous, as I had never seen her parents. I wondered what they had looked like.

We entered the Starbucks with no words, just a polite smile from Isadora as I opened the door for her.

As soon as we had gotten the coffee, we sat down at a small table in the back of the shop. We just sat there for a minute, until Isadora broke the silence suddenly.

"Klaus... I don't think he told you for fear you would let it slip... but Duncan..."

"Duncan... what?" I said, a bit puzzled.

"Well... look..." she said, pulling a box from her pocket. In the box was a lovely ring, set with Violet's favorite stone- amethyst.

"No!" I said, looking in awe at the ring.

"Yes! He was going to propose!" she said, with a sad grin. "I wanted so badly to see my brother finally ask the love of his life to marry him. But it never happened. Klaus, it was meant for your sister, so you keep it. When you feel like that day comes for you, maybe you can use it," she said, placing it in my palm and closing my fingers over it.

"That day?" I asked.

"Well, when you find the girl of your dreams, I mean," Isadora said, looking at me solemnly.

"I'm not positive that any girls will actually fall for me..." I said truthfully, looking at her with a look I guess she took as a bit desperate.

"Look, you know how I'm gonna find my guy?" she said, taking one of my hands from across the table. "On the first date, if he leans in to kiss me, and I don't know if I like him enough, I won't take it. And if I do... well, I'll go along with it. That's it. Simple."

"Well... how do you know if they really like you? I mean, _really_ really like you?" I said, still not sure.

"Well, it'll be in their kiss," she said. "You can always tell by their kiss."

"Always? Like how?"

"If you won't get it then, it's like this," Isadora said, leaning across the table and kissing me suddenly, right on the lips, and not letting go for about two minutes or so.

"Well," I breathed after a while, trying to regain my vocabulary. "That was long. Like, two hours."

"It was two minutes," she said, giggling. "Klaus, you like me!"

"Well, you really needn't announce it to the world," I said, blushing crimson.

"Why not? I just want to shout it!" she said.

"Well, can it wait for us to get back to the apartment? Please?" I said.

"Fine."

"KLAUS BAUDELAIRE LOVES ME!" Isadora yelled at the top of her lungs back in the penthouse. "KLAUS BAUDELAIRE LOVES ME!" She was dancing in circles around the room, and she had burst when we had stepped through the door.

"Yes, Isadora, the whole world about knows now," I said, buried in a stack of books to get my embarassment off my mind. I was blushing under them, however, and I wanted to run around like a maniac too. It was raining outside now, and we had had to run to avoid it.

"But I love saying it! Oh look, it's raining... go outside with me! Please?" she said, asking over my book.

"Alright," I said, putting down _Sure-Fire Signs He Likes You_ (it was Isadora's book, but I had been reading it to see where I had gone wrong). She grabbed my hand and pulled me down into the midnight rain.

Soon as we were outside, Isadora started dancing in circles again. She had the biggest smile I had ever seen on, and she looked truly thrilled. I wondered why she was so happy, because after all, our friends and siblings had just died. She was soaking, it was midnight, and it was the middle of October, but she didn't seem to care.

"Klaus! Come on!" she yelled to me.

"Isadora! Isn't it cold?" I said, reaching out to feel it.

"Not to me. And plus, who doesn't like midnight October rain? Come on out! The moon's lovely."

"And the rain?"

"Delicious!" she said, sticking her tongue out. I always liked that sense of humour, ever since we had solved the V.F.D. mystery. I decided that it couldn't be that bad, and stepped out into the storm.

I started dancing her idiot dance too, and before you knew it we were having the time of our lives, making up silly slow dances and strange moves. And she was right- it wasn't the least bit cold when you forgot all of your worries.

While we were dancing one of our funny slow dances that I had made up (all by myself!), she started to manage talking behind all her laughter.

"Oh, Klaus... this has been the most wonderful evening of my life! You're the greatest," she said. I looked at my watch and it read four thirty.

"Hey... which do you like better, sunrise or sunset?" I said.

"Well... sunrise. I love the sense it gives, I guess, " she said.

"Well, the sun's about to rise... do you... uh... do you wanna watch it with me?" I asked, bowing my head a little.

"Like a... date?" she asked, lifting my head up by my chin. I nodded, swallowing, thinking she might not like that.

"Yes! I'd love to go on a date with you." She slipped her hand into mine, and we walked down the street to where I had parked my car, and we got in and drove out to Manhattan Island, where we found the perfect spot, right near the Statue of Liberty. We could watch the sunrise from behind her, and it would look quite stunning.

We got out and sat on the hood of my car. Isadora leaned her head on my shoulder and put her arms around my neck.

This was progress.

"It's lovely, Klaus. How did you know to come here?"

"I don't know... just seemed nice."

"Well, it certainly is."

I remembered what Isadora had said about that first kiss, whether or not it was the first date, so I decided to try it. I leaned in, and to my surprise-

She took it. She kissed me.

And on the inside, my heart was pounding and I was shouting myself hoarse. I couldn't believe it. Isadora Quagmire had fallen in love with me.

_And this_, I thought,_ is the beginning of a bright new day._


	5. Chapter 5

(Five)

We had gotten back to the penthouse all but quickly, as Klaus seemed a bit distracted by what had occured. He couldn't believe that I loved him, I guess- but I had thought that I was the most obvious person in the world. It was funny, the way two people could be so close, yet so far apart... and then when they bridge the gap, it all seems like a blur, how the two lives had gone together before, but were never quite connected. But then, they can suddenly just... click, you know? I guess he had heard that click pretty clearly, and it was still ringing in his head.

"Klaus? Are you... okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I think half of my memory has been temporarily erased..." At this, my eyebrows went up as far as they could go, just involuntarily, because I had had no idea the effect this could have on a guy, especially Klaus Baudelaire. I wondered if all guys were like this. I had to think of something to say or do...

"Well, just hang on to this entire day's worth of memories." I leaned in and kissed him again, and it seemed to overwhelm him. He must have really liked it though, because he didn't complain.

"Isadora..." he said when he pulled away, "this is great and all... but shouldn't we be focusing on the task at hand?"

"Excuse me? What task?"

"You know... finding Count Olaf, getting him back, avenging our brothers and sisters... that whole deal?"

"Oh yeah... you're right..." I said, suddenly remembering the cruel fashion in which my brothers and his sisters had been murdered- they had a rock thrown through the window too, I realised. After they had bled out to a point of weakness, Count Olaf came in, stabbed them, and slit their throats. But- was it really Count Olaf?

"Klaus? How can we be so sure it was Olaf anyway?" I asked, just now coming to that inference.

"My sisters wear- er, _wore_, rather- knee-length dresses. Your brothers wore slacks."

"And...?"

"You were looking at your brothers, but while I was observing my sisters, I noticed, on their uncovered ankles, a carving of the same eye that exists on Olaf's ankle."

"No!"

"Yes. It _was_ Olaf."

"This is terrible!"

"We defeated him once!"

"But it was so hard! Oh Klaus, not again..."

"C'mere... c'mon, baby, we can do it. Look at me and tell me we can do this."

I looked him in the eyes and managed to choke, "We can do this."

"That's my girl."


End file.
